Commercial
Diplomacy and the National Interestby Harry
W. KoppA
joint publication of theAmerican Academy of Diplomacy
and theBusiness Council for International Understanding

The
book’s opening sentence—”Security and prosperity
are the two great goals of American foreign policy, and they are
closely linked”—accurately identifies the two key underpinnings
of our policy. Our increasingly interconnected world presents both
growing commercial competition and growing economic opportunity
for the United States; we have to take every opportunity to strengthen
our commercial diplomacy, drawing on examples of what has worked.— Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State

American
companies operating overseas have one great advantage—the
smart, vigorous commercial diplomacy carried out by American embassies
and foreign commercial officers around the world.
— Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Commerce

This
book is a must-read for companies doing business overseas and the
state entities that support them. In this increasingly competitive
global atmosphere, we need to bring to bear all the tools we can
to help our companies prosper. As governor of a state doing tremendous
business overseas, I highly recommend this book.— Frank H. Murkowski, Governor of Alaska
Chairman of the Council of State Governments

* * * * *

This short
and lively book lays out the why and the how of promoting US business
abroad. America’s place in the world depends more than is
usually acknowledged on the vigor and global reach of American business.

The United States is the world’s
leading exporter, the world’s leading importer, and the world’s
primary source and destination of funds for foreign investment.
Our position as the best place in the world to do business—the
most reliable in which to buy, the most lucrative in which to sell,
and the safest and surest in which to invest or to raise capital—is
a cause, not an effect, of American global leadership. Protecting
and expanding the US role as the world’s supplier and customer
of choice for goods, services, ideas, capital and entrepreneurial
energy should be a foreign policy objective second only to securing
the homeland.

Such goals need day-to-day attention.
Case histories dealing with market access, investor rights, protection
of intellectual property, corrupt practices, contract sanctity,
sanctions, security and other trade and investment issues show how
diplomacy works with business to achieve commercial objectives that
advance national interests. These stories, based largely on interviews
with the business leaders and diplomats who took part in the events
they describe, illuminate the best practices that lead to success
and point up the lessons learned from failures.

Practitioners in business and government,
and those interested in how the two relate to each other in international
affairs, will benefit from this brisk, persuasive analysis.

This book can be ordered directly from
the Business Council for International Understanding. Please call Ginelle K. Baugh at (212) 490-0460 or via email at g-baugh@bciu.org. Bulk discounts are available.

ISBN: 0-9679108-1-1
$9.95
published June 2004

For an inside
look at the real work of U.S. diplomacy in over 50 countries, check
out Inside a U.S. Embassy, published by the American Foreign
Service Association (AFSA).